1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
2. Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text
3. Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text.
7. Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem.
World History Standards
WH.H.7: Understand how national, regional, and ethnic interests have contributed to conflict among groups and nations in the modern era.
7.1: Evaluate key turning points of the modern era in terms of their lasting impact (e.g., conflicts, documents, policies, movements, etc.).
7.3: Analyze economic and political rivalries, ethnic and regional conflicts, and nationalism and imperialism as underlying causes of war (e.g., WWI, Russian Revolution, WWII).
7.5: Analyze the emergence of capitalism as a dominate economic pattern and the responses to it from various nations and groups (e.g., utopianism, social democracy, socialism, communism, etc.).
Objectives
Students will
understand how totalitarian regimes developed and flourished pre-1950 in world history.
understand how propaganda was used by totalitarian regimes to achieve their goals.
understand that the issues that Orwell railed against in 1984 are still issues that the world's population is facing.
continue the development of understanding of the interconnectedness of ELA and Social Studies.
understand how to access and use QR codes for educational purposes.
demonstrate their understanding of the first five bullets by creating a video.
Learning Activities
Before the lesson, the teacher will need to secure a location to scatter QR codes. A media center is a great suggestion because of its size and its growing popularity as the hub of the school. The teacher will need to scatter QR codes the day before the lesson.
The day(s) of the lesson:
Explain mini-project.
Give students time to engage with the material presented in the QR codes.
Give students time to create scripts (either on paper or via Google Drive).
Give students time to film.
View videos and have a culminating discussion/decompression session.
After the lesson, ensure that students can and are apply(ing) the contents of this lesson to their understanding of Orwell's 1984.
Integration of App/Tool
Students will use Scan (or comparable QR reader app) to gain access to the lesson's content and will use Splice (or comparable video editing app) to produce the video.
Collaboration
For this lesson, students are placed into groups where at least one student has a smartphone for equity's sake and will be required to consume the information from the QR codes and to produce the video as a group.
ISTE NETS-T
Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity: Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments.
Promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.
Promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes.
Model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments
Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments: Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS·S.
Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.
Develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.
Customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.
Provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.
Model Digital Age Work and Learning: Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society.
Demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations.
Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.
Communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital age media and formats.
Model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning.
Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility: Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices.
Advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources.
Address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources.
Promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information.
Develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital age communication and collaboration tools.
Assessment
Students will be assessed on their comprehension of three main topics from their QR code scavenger hunt by their group's video and script. The video will be assessed according to its quality and the degree to which its contents cover the three main topics from the assignment sheet (listed below). Creativity is also slightly important, but not nearly as much as the content. Processing of how the content of this lesson applies to our text (1984) is evaluated on a written exam at the end of the unit.
Materials/Resources
Groups of students will need the following resources to help with completion of this activity:
iOS or Android smartphone
QR reader (Scan, QR Reader, or ScanLife, depending on OS)
Video editing app (Splice, iMovie, or Vimeo)
YouTube or Vimeo account
Twitter account for sharing the video's link
Value Beyond the Classroom
This lesson will show students that above all, literature is not created in a vacuum; rather, its major themes and ideas come straight from major societal issues within its context. The fusion of ELA with Social Studies is difficult for many students because they consider the subjects as two disparate parts (because in many schools, teachers don't use effective departmental collaboration to show the connections between the subjects), so this lesson allows students to see the interconnectedness of a text like 1984 and its context. In terms of sheer content, this lesson helps students understand how different types of governments (totalitarianism in particular, of course) developed and thrived. This lesson also connects the classroom with the world around it and allows students to use smartphones (and tools like Twitter and YouTube) for productive purposes, which is a skill that K-12 education certainly needs to focus its energies into developing and fostering.
Curriculum Standards
Reading Standards for Informational Texts: 1-3, 7
1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.2. Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text
3. Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text.
7. Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem.
World History Standards
WH.H.7: Understand how national, regional, and ethnic interests have contributed to conflict among groups and nations in the modern era.7.1: Evaluate key turning points of the modern era in terms of their lasting impact (e.g., conflicts, documents, policies, movements, etc.).
7.3: Analyze economic and political rivalries, ethnic and regional conflicts, and nationalism and imperialism as underlying causes of war (e.g., WWI, Russian Revolution, WWII).
7.5: Analyze the emergence of capitalism as a dominate economic pattern and the responses to it from various nations and groups (e.g., utopianism, social democracy, socialism, communism, etc.).
Objectives
Students willLearning Activities
Before the lesson, the teacher will need to secure a location to scatter QR codes. A media center is a great suggestion because of its size and its growing popularity as the hub of the school. The teacher will need to scatter QR codes the day before the lesson.The day(s) of the lesson:
After the lesson, ensure that students can and are apply(ing) the contents of this lesson to their understanding of Orwell's 1984.
Integration of App/Tool
Students will use Scan (or comparable QR reader app) to gain access to the lesson's content and will use Splice (or comparable video editing app) to produce the video.Collaboration
For this lesson, students are placed into groups where at least one student has a smartphone for equity's sake and will be required to consume the information from the QR codes and to produce the video as a group.ISTE NETS-T
Assessment
Students will be assessed on their comprehension of three main topics from their QR code scavenger hunt by their group's video and script. The video will be assessed according to its quality and the degree to which its contents cover the three main topics from the assignment sheet (listed below). Creativity is also slightly important, but not nearly as much as the content. Processing of how the content of this lesson applies to our text (1984) is evaluated on a written exam at the end of the unit.Materials/Resources
Groups of students will need the following resources to help with completion of this activity:Value Beyond the Classroom
This lesson will show students that above all, literature is not created in a vacuum; rather, its major themes and ideas come straight from major societal issues within its context. The fusion of ELA with Social Studies is difficult for many students because they consider the subjects as two disparate parts (because in many schools, teachers don't use effective departmental collaboration to show the connections between the subjects), so this lesson allows students to see the interconnectedness of a text like 1984 and its context. In terms of sheer content, this lesson helps students understand how different types of governments (totalitarianism in particular, of course) developed and thrived. This lesson also connects the classroom with the world around it and allows students to use smartphones (and tools like Twitter and YouTube) for productive purposes, which is a skill that K-12 education certainly needs to focus its energies into developing and fostering.Lesson Development Resources/Citations
Links to the assignment sheet and QR codes:Sources: QR code links were obtained from this 1984 Webquest